Tag Archives: JOMO

When I open up Facebook I have gazillions of notifications, and it’s pretty clear that these are in Facebook’s – and not in my – interest:

Facebook tells me my friends are interested in going to events. While this information comes to no surprise, it’s the fact that I get alerted about it, which turns this into a FOMO trigger.

Today I was informed that a couple of my contacts “are interested in going to an event in Cape Town tomorrow”. What a surprise.

Clicking on this ‘notification’ I land on the events page of a club night. Really not something I’m interested in.

Facebook will regard my click as a success, whereas I find this incredibly annoying. Facebook is not my AI diary. In fact, it offers me such predictable content – like the update to being married leads to ads about babies – that I’m simply frustrated.

But now I’m not just bombarded with consumerism, I’m also pressured to be hip and cool and constantly know what everyone else is doing and on top of it best participate in it.

Like this:

#JOMO rather than #FOMO: Get real and experience the #Joy Of Missing Out!

It’s all perfectly planned out in your head. You have prepared for all eventualities. At least you thought so. Because then, all of a sudden, life just happens.

Yes, life doesn’t go according to plans. But doesn’t that just bring an element of surprise into our experiences, keeping us on our toes. After all, what would life be if it all just worked out perfectly – as entertaining as soap opera at best.

But I hear more and more ‘life’ as an excuse: ‘Life’s a bitch’ – that’s why it didn’t work out.

Since when did we get so out of synch? Out of synch with life to the degree that we blame it for our failures? That we resign ourselves to a mediocre lifestyle, because ‘that’s life’.

In the end it’s a decision to make: Back to basics – throw out that TV, cook more yourself, cycle instead of driving, ditch social media and meet up with friends in person, visit family more frequently, be outdoors more often. Think what matters most and then do just that.

There’s enough distraction out there. JOMO can give us a breather from the rat race. And when we learn to feel gratitude for the smaller things, maybe ‘life’ isn’t so bad after all.